The Prosecutor's Office in the Russian republic of Ingushetia has withdrawn its intention to investigate the detention of opposition journalist Magomed Yevloyev, who was shot dead last year.
The
order for a new investigation had been issued on March 16.
The Yevloyev family lawyer, Kaloy Akhilgov, tells RFE/RL's Russian Service that if an investigation was launched, all the officials who sanctioned Yevloyev's detention -- and perhaps his killing -- would be brought to trial.
Magomed Yevloyev, who owned the opposition website ingushetia.ru, was detained by police at the Nazran airport upon arriving from Moscow on August 31, 2008.
Later that day, he was brought to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head and later died. His death was ruled accidental.
His relatives and colleagues insist the police killed him.
The former chief of security for the Ingushetian Interior Ministry, Ibragim Yevloyev (no relation), is facing trial in Nazran for involuntary manslaughter in the case.
In February, a Nazran investigator appealed to Ingushetia's president and prosecutor to launch a special investigation into Yevloyev's case, which the Prosecutor's Office agreed to do.